Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The Next Big Thing

Sorry there's been a lot of silence around here. There's a new self-published project in the works. Smaller than Craft Work Knit, which nearly destroyed me, and more of a collaboration.

It's four patterns, each of which is based on a chapter of Moby-Dick. It's an offshoot of the Ambergris pattern I did for Sanguine Gryphon this winter--once I started rereading Moby-Dick, the ideas came in a torrent. This first small booklet will be out at the end of September, and will be followed by a few other Moby-Dick volumes, until I run out of ideas or have designed enough patterns to create a lovely large hard-cover compilation book that no one will buy.

I'm thrilled to be using some of Matt Kish's illustrations in this project, which, combined with my sister's incredible graphic design skills, promises to be as much inspirational concept book as knitting instruction booklet. After Kathleen told me about Matt's Moby-Dick blog, I spent several days reading every entry and gushing about it to everyone I know. I don't want to share too much about my book, but if you like Matt's work you can pre-order his book, which includes all his Moby-Dick illustrations and will be released in October.

Yesterday the buttons for the projects arrived: All custom glass shank buttons from Shipyard Point Glassworks. Those large, deep red ones are 3/4" in diameter and so, so rich. Chinaski was getting way too curious in this photo; I think I was yelling at him as I took it.

Of course, there's also some new research.

I am thinking that my knitting will become more and more conceptual until it has no audience whatsoever. Things seem to be heading that way!

12 comments:

I don't know what to say about conceptual (I love your Ambergris sweater!) but I would have a hard time not eating those buttons. Thanks goodness for the postal strike here in Canada - I might have ordered a half dozen of those buttons, just to suck on.

I like the idea of "knit for knit's sake" (though i have never been an art for art's sake person).

A lot of my design ideas right now are fairly conceptual and based around photoshoots and layouts i want, as well as textures and ideas, and not always "This pattern will sell well", and i think that's okay.

I'm really excited to see what you cook up, and it's also exciting that to see a designer you respect doing something different (especially when you're on the verge of trying something different yourself).

I'll be a proud member of that audience! I'm so excited about the Moby Dick patterns. The whole concept sounds wonderful. I love what you do and I love knitting as art. So much of what's in the mags is boring, like sweaters you could just go buy at a department store. Your patterns are unique and refreshing!

i recently discovered Matt's Moby Dick project and i could not stop gushing about how much i LOVE the entire project (so much so that i'm planning a big post/giveaway on my new blog www.summerofsisterlove.com) ... so how awesome that while looking at your blog after seeing "She's Electric" on knitty, that you are also planning a related knit project.

This sounds like an fun project to me. When I read Moby Dick in high school, we were all godless liberal teenagers who made that book our bible. I still can't figure out why we went around for months making pretentious comments about the color white instead of jokes about sperm whales spermaceti.

I can't wait to see what you've come up with as your designs seem so fresh and fun.